


Snuffles

by betabee



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, ML spoilers: Princess Fragrance, marichat fluff, on the flimsiest of excuses
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-04-05
Packaged: 2018-05-26 18:29:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6250771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/betabee/pseuds/betabee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unexpected dips in the Seine are not good for anyone's health, but Ladybug can make sure she makes up for it one way or another... even if Chat doesn't know it's her...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Her partner arrived at their next scheduled patrol with a box of tissues in hand and a blanket tied around his shoulders. She watched him blow his nose with a trumpeting sound before dropping onto the roof beside him.

“You shouldn’t have come if you’re this ill, Kitty. I can patrol on my own for once if you need a night off.”

He inhaled, his nose making a rattling sound, before replying. “Nonsense, my Lady. I-” He was interrupted by a sneeze- “-I can make it. Promise.”

“Where did you get this one from? Is it because I dumped you in the Seine?”

He nodded, a shiver running through him as he drew another tissue from the box. “You know how it goes- water, cats, they don’t mix well. Or maybe my lungs are trying to get the last few bits of that cloying smell out of my nostrils.”

“Well, I’m sorry I didn’t get there earlier to save you- I was otherwise occupied, or rather, my kwami was.”

He looked up at her in surprise. “I thought the ‘plushie’ Prince Ali had looked familiar. How on earth did he get her?”   
She sighed. “A series of unfortunate events, to be honest. But don’t change the subject… you should be at home. In bed.  _ Resting _ .” She wagged a finger at him, playfully glaring.

He raised his hands placatingly, the gesture interrupted by another snuffle. “Okay, okay, I should, but I wouldn’t want to abandon my Lady in case she needs me.”

“And I wouldn’t want my Kitty to get pneumonia. Now, go home, before I’m forced to drag you there.”

He raised an eyebrow, and was about to respond before a hacking cough overtook his efforts. She watched him spasm for a few seconds before sighing and offering a hand. “On second thoughts, I’m not leaving you to get home on your own. That cough doesn’t sound good.”

“I’m fine, Bugaboo, really-!” His words were interrupted as she snaked a hand around his waist.

“Now, which way is home for you?”

He sighed, but curled into her nonetheless, arms around her shoulders. “Do I really have to go home, Ladybug? I really don’t want to… it’s cold. It’s lonely.” His eyes pleaded with her, their depths speaking volumes, the sad note in his voice saying there was a story there to be told another time. She hesitated for a moment, but then nodded.

“Fine. I’m taking you to a friend of mine’s house- she’ll keep an eye on you tonight.” She made sure he was holding on tight enough, then loosed her yo-yo in the direction of home, praying she was making the right decision.

  


***

  


They arrived on her balcony after a few minutes, Chat shivering even more than he had been when they started confirming her decision was probably the right one. If he was going down with anything worse than a cold, he couldn’t be left alone for now. He needed warmth, medicine, companionship. Not something Ladybug could provide for much longer, going by the beeping of her miraculous.

But Marinette could.

She sat him down on the balcony, carefully prying his arms from around her neck. He didn’t seem to be very lucid, but as she moved away his eyes opened, following her as she stood.

“I’ll contact Marinette, she’ll let you in when she can, but I need to go now. Promise me you’ll take care,  _ chaton _ ?” She asked.

He nodded, offering her a weak smile before sneezing again, and she swung off the balcony, swinging around the block. As soon as she was out of sight, she landed, running to an alley to drop her transformation. Tikki unlocked the door into the bakery without a word of protest as she ran inside, but stopped her just before she went to open the balcony to let Chat inside.

“I think what you’re doing is for the best, but be careful, Marinette. Even if he doesn’t want to go home, he can’t stay here too long; he’s got a civilian identity to uphold too, you know.”

“I know, but he’s not going to be able to make it in this state!” She whispered in reply, and Tikki nodded in acknowledgement as she went to open the trapdoor.

He seemed in an even worse state than from a few minutes earlier; the cool night air wasn’t helping, even though they were in late spring. She shook his shoulder when he didn’t acknowledge her climbing up.

“Chat… Chat? Can you hear me?”

He inhaled snuffily, blinking twice before closing his eyes again, drawing the thin blanket around his shoulders again. “Ma- Marinette?”

She nodded. “Ladybug called to say you needed help- are you okay to get up? We need to get you inside.”

He nodded in response after a moment, letting her pull him to his feet and down the hatch onto her bed, where he collapsed with a muffled groan. She locked the trapdoor before crawling over him to the steps down to the rest of the room.

“What do you need? Blankets? Tea? Medicine?”

He huffed into her pillows. “Erm… Warmth. A cure for the common cold. Or for this headache. And maybe a plate of cheese?”

She did a double take at the last one, but tiptoed downstairs, returning a few minutes later. She put the cheese bread,the ibuprofen and the lemon tea on her desk, but climbed up with a blanket to where Chat was now making a nest of her pillows.

“There’s painkillers and tea on my desk. And some cheese bread, though I don’t know what you need that for. There’s an extra blanket here too. Did you need anything else?”   
He nodded, one arm emerging from beneath the blankets to beckon her closer. She edged forward, and the arm grabbed hers. After a few seconds she found herself under the blankets, cuddled close, her back against Chat’s chest.

“The cheese is for Plagg, is so I can get out this stuffy suit and still have the chance of keeping my identity secret in the morning… I take it there’s a way to turn out the lights without leaving this warm nest of yours, princess?”

She nodded, and he released her long enough to reach the light switch hanging near her bed before drawing her back into the circle of his arms once again, the rattle of his breath noisy in the night but not enough to stop her succumbing to the all-encompassing warmth around her. She saw a brief flash of light from behind her closed eyelids, and the leather behind her melted away into soft cotton and denim, the arms around her drawing her closer once more, and she drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after: close calls all around, especially on the identities front...

She woke slowly, the bright morning sunlight filtering through the curtains as usual, her alarm beeping in the distance. She groaned, snuggling further back into the warmth of her blankets and the boy wound around her.

Wait…

She was sure there was something significantly different about this particular morning, but was too sleepy to work out what it was just yet.

The beeping got louder- Tikki had probably got fed up of her not stopping the alarm yet, was probably bringing it up to get her to turn it off.

“Turn it off yourself, you know the password.” She mumbled, pulling the arm hanging over her waist in closer as it tried to move away.

“I  _ would _ , gladly, but I unfortunately don’t know the password for your phone, Princess, unless you’d care to enlighten me?” A husky voice said just behind her ear, and she shot awake. She sat up suddenly, almost twisting to look at the other person in her bed before registering the distinctly bare arm still around hers, pale tanned fingers now resting in her lap from her sudden movement, a glimpse of a mop of blond hair before she remembered to stop moving her head  before she found out something she shouldn’t. Her eyes snapped shut, and she blindly reached for a blanket to throw over his head. The boy let out a muffled squawk of protest which devolved into a hacking cough beneath the fluffy pink blanket now draped over him, a pair of jeans and his hands now all she could see of him.

“You should have changed back  _ before _ I woke up, you know.”

The blanket nodded, and a hand gestured behind her. “I would have, but I was asleep too. You’d better thank Plagg for bringing you your phone so you can  _ turn off that alarm already _ .”

She turned, and saw the small black figure hovering impatiently, the phone almost comically balanced in its tiny paws. She hastily grabbed it and switched the alarm off, putting the phone down before turning to the kwami once more.

“Erm, thanks?” 

The kwami made an airborne approximation of a bow. “No problem, kid. And thanks for the cheese bread.”

“No problem. Dad makes plenty of it, it should be easy enough to get you some more if you need it. Was it okay? I know it was only some of the leftovers…”

“It was no match for a nice round of Camembert, but it was good! We really need to come here more often, A-”

The blanket shot out a hand to grab the kwami. “Plagg! No names, remember?”

“But-”

He glared at the kwami.

“But I saw-”

“Claws out!”

The kwami disappeared into the ring on the boy’s other hand, and a green light shone out from under the blanket. After a moment he shrugged off the blanket, revealing a dishevelled looking Chat Noir, the blanket from the night before still around his shoulders, nose looking red, hair even more of a mess than usual, a pallor still in what bits of his face she could see under the mask.

“Good morning, princess.” He said hoarsely, a sneeze following shortly after. “Thanks for letting me stay over.”

She nodded distractedly, raising a hand to check his forehead and cheeks. “That’s okay. How are you feeling?”

He made to answer, but another coughing fit interrupted his words. “I- I’m still far from being up to scratch, but I wouldn’t want to overstay my hospitality.”

She groaned a little bit inside at the pun, but frowned. “You don’t have to go anywhere if you’re still not feeling well. I’ll need to go to school soon, but I’m sure my mum would be able to keep an eye on you during the day if you need it.”

He sneezed again, and she nodded in decision. “Yeah, I think you should stay here. U- Unless that’s going to compromise your secret identity?”

He shook his head. “I just need to make a couple of calls, but then I should be good to stick around.”

She nodded, and crawled down the ladder to the main part of her room. He slowly stumbled after her, hand raised to his head once he was safely down. The tea she had made was stone cold now, but she offered him the box of painkillers and a glass of water which he took with a nod of thanks, and she paced the room for a few moments, pondering how to handle getting him more food without alerting her parents to the fact she was hiding a superhero in her room. Or was it worth just telling them? But then there’d be no end to the number of questions…

The problem was solved by the opening of the trapdoor to the rest of the house, her father’s head poking up through and immediately alighting on her companion, in the middle of swallowing the tablets she had given him.

“Mari, breakast’s-” Her father’s words stopped at seeing the superhero, who swallowed before starting up another coughing fit.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng, why is Chat Noir in your room at seven in the morning, of all times?”

“I- He- I-” Her stuttering was cut off by Chat’s hoarse words.

“Ladybug was helping me last evening with trying to solve a problem around the city, but I came down with a cold a few hours ago and wasn’t well enough to go home on my own. She asked Marinette to look after me for her. Don’t blame Marinette, she was just offering me a couch to crash on for the nigh-” His words descended into a violent coughing fit, and Tom’s expression changed from outrage to concern quickly. He ascended into Marinette’s room proper, pressing a hand to Chat’s forehead and cheeks much like his daughter had done a few minutes before.

“Did you pick something up from your dip in the Seine, Chat? You really don’t look well.” Tom said. Chat looked up at the man with surprise, and Tom shrugged in answer.

“The Ladyblog captured most of the attack from a few days ago, including that bit- it was on the evening news. No wonder you’re not well- have you been to see a doctor about it?”

Chat shook his head, and Tom placed a hand on his shoulder to guide him down the stairs. 

“Right, we’re taking you down to the doctors straight after breakfast then, young man. You need to look after yourself if you’re going to be saving the city!” 

Marinette groaned quietly to herself once her father and Chat Noir were safely out the room, Tikki zooming out from her hiding place among the stuffed animals on her desk.

“Well, at least that means someone can keep an eye on him while you’re at school- he’ll be fine with your parents, Marinette.”

“Yes… but how much are they going to mother him, Tikki?”

Tikki made an unsure humming noise. “You say that like it’s a bad thing, Marinette, but from my talk with Plagg last night, I think that kid needs some serious mothering, to be honest.”

Marinette groaned. “So Plagg knows who I am?”

Tikki nodded. “And I know who Chat is. You’re not going to believe-”   
“AH Ah ah! No reveals!”

Tikki pouted. “I wasn’t going to, you know me better than that Mari! But from what Plagg told me, your Chat doesn’t have the best home life. Some respite from that would be welcome, including the attention of some loving parents. Don’t spoil it for him.”   
She nodded, and Tikki flew into her purse before she made her way down the stairs.


	3. Chapter 3

Her mother had wasted no time in starting to mother her fellow superhero, it turned out.

She found him sat on the sofa, one of the heaviest duvets they owned swaddled around him, a box of tissues and a bowl of the soup she made whenever any of them were ill steaming on the table in front of him. Her mother was bustling around the kitchenette in the corner making something else; was that another pot of soup brewing on the stove?- and her father was talking into the phone, booking Chat an appointment at their local doctor’s surgery. She made her way across to sit on the sofa next to Chat after retrieving a bowl of cereal from around her mother’s hurried surge of cooking.

“Have you had a chance to make your calls yet?” She asked as she started on her cereal. “They probably won’t give you a spare moment to do so once they’ve run out of ways to look after you other than sitting with you on the sofa to play video games or something.”

Chat nodded. “I did it while your mother was making the first batch of soup.” He sneezed again, and a concerned sound came from the direction of the kitchenette. Chat’s voice lowered to a hoarse whisper as he leaned over to ask her, “Does she do this for all your friends?”

She frowned. “Do what?”

He looked around, then turned back to her. “ _ Mother them _ this much?”

Marinette’s frown relaxed, and she nodded. “Yep, both of them do. They’re constantly trying to feed whoever comes over- there’s a supply of Alya’s favourite cookies in that jar  _ there _ -” -she gestured to a red and brown tin on the counter- “- and they’ll invite her over for dinner pretty much every time she’s here. Heck, they even kept offering my crush plates upon plates of food the one time I invited him over! It’s a family thing, I guess.”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Your crush?”

She went a violent shade of red, but didn’t elaborate on that particular point. “Has mum told you about the soup you’ve got there? It’s a Cheng family specialty, chicken and noodles and lentils and a touch of lemon to aid the immune system. Mum swears by it.”

He nodded at her words, swallowing his most recent spoonful of soup. “It’s lovely… or so says the tastebuds that are still working.”

“Ah.” She said, taking a mouthful of cereal as she thought for a moment. “How bad is the blocked nose?”

“Well, one nostril is completely shut, and the other is certainly complaining at having to do all the work.” He replied, just as Sabine came over with a plate of biscuits.

“Sounds like you’ll be needing some hot tea with your soup then, young man.” Sabine said, returning to the kitchenette. “And Marinette, doesn’t school start in thirty minutes?” She called over her shoulder.

Marinette’s eyes shot to the clock, and she wolfed down the rest of her cereal before racing back up to her room to get dressed.

 

***

 

School didn’t do much to distract her from who waited at home. There was no Adrien present to watch today (at home with a cold according to Nino), and Alya was still busy dealing with the fallout of her most recent akuma attack footage on the Ladyblog, which, while interesting to just about anyone else, was not what Marinette needed to hear about today.

She didn’t need to watch the five seconds of footage of the reason her partner in crime was now ill over and over again, after all.

After a dull few hours of class, she said as brief a goodbye as possible to Alya before sprinting back home to the bakery, her friend’s distraction with her blog allowing her a speedy getaway. Her father was working in the bakery today; she reached onto tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek on her way past as he served the lunchtime crowd, and she made her way up the stairs quickly.

She entered the living room to find Chat in much the same position he had been in a few hours prior, swaddled in blankets on the sofa and surrounded by snacks. The only difference this time was her mother sat next to him talking animatedly.

“... yes, we were so happy when she finally invited him over for once, though both Tom and I think the poor boy needs more food- he’s a growing boy, even if he’s a model.”   
“I agree; the diet a model needs to stay in shape is very harsh. I’ve a friend who works as a model, he finds it very difficult to get the balance right, given he has a very active lifestyle outside of that.”

Sabine nodded. “Well, we tried to offer him more food, but I think him and Marinette were very focussed on practicing for the gaming tournament.”

“MUM?!” Marinette said, her bag falling from her suddenly limp hands. “You’re not telling  _ Chat Noir  _ of all people about my crush?!”

Sabine looked over at her, smiling and chuckling slightly. “Ah, hello, Marinette. How was class? Your lunch is on the counter, come sit and eat with us.”

She crossed to pick up her lunch before joining them on the sofas. “Only if you explain how you got onto the topic of my crush with Chat Noir. Now.”

It was Chat who answered. “Well, we’re going to the doctors this afternoon, that’s when your dad booked me an appointment for. I was bored and ended up asking your mother about this crush you mentioned before you left, and here we are. It’s my fault, if any, but apparently you weren’t exactly subtle about it. How is dear Adrien, by the way?”

She spluttered, coughed, and shot a glare at her mother before answering. “Down with the flu today, or so says my friend Alya. How much else about him and I had my mother told you?”

He chuckled, before dissolving into a coughing fit. “Not much, don’t worry princess. Besides, I know him quite well. I might be able to put in a word.”

Her panicked expression elicited another chuckle from both her mother and the blanketed superhero, before the conversation turned elsewhere.

 

***

 

The afternoon at school dragged again, and she almost sprinted home as soon as the final bell rang, despite Alya’s protests. She found Chat and her father in the living room this time, more blankets piled around him, Mecha Strike III going on the telly, controllers in the hands of both men. Her entrance went unnoticed as they battled on, and she had time to retrieve a plate of cookies from the bakery downstairs and put her bag in her room before they noticed her join them on the sofas.

“How badly is dad trouncing you?” She asked as she offered the cookies around, Chat grabbing two to stuff in his mouth and her father eating one more slowly before either of them made a move to reply.

“Quite badly, to be honest. I thought I was a reasonably good player, but evidently not that good. Ladybug’s far better at this than me, I’m sure she could give your father a run for his money.”

She shrugged, eating a cookie before replying. “Well, I got onto my school’s team, so I’m not too bad. Dad’s the real ace at this.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Mari!” Her dad replied as he finished off Chat’s robot once again. “Why don’t you play for a while? I need to go see how your mother’s doing downstairs.”

She nodded, taking her father’s controller, fingers dancing across the buttons to get her favourite character up on the screen.

“Yell if you need anything, okay kids?” He replied, and they nodded distractedly as they both started to battle once more.

“How did visiting the doctors go?” She asked after a few minutes of concentrated battling. “I take it it wasn’t too bad given you’re here and not a hospital.”

He made a distracted noise of affirmation, followed by a sneeze. “I’ve got a chest infection, but they gave me some antibiotics which should clear it up. I’m not allowed to do any of my usual superhero acrobatics until I can breathe a bit more clearly, however, so you’re stuck with me a few more days. Your parents said it was okay, so I’ll be borrowing the couch for a few days, and stealing more of that cheese bread which Plagg thinks is excellent. Think you can manage?”

She nodded. “I’ve got a few things planned over the weekend, but I’m sure we’ve enough time between the three of us to keep an eye on you. I could contact Ladybug for you to let her know you won’t be able to make patrol?”

He gave her a quizzical look. “I wasn’t aware you knew that we patrolled.”

“Well, we’re pretty close. Do you want me to give her a call later?”

He looked confused, but nodded, and they returned their focus to the game, the room silent except for the occasional coughing fit from the superhero under the blankets.


	4. Chapter 4

It was surprisingly easy to sneak out to do patrol- her parents were well used to her taking long showers, so she locked herself into the bathroom before squeezing out the window for a quick circuit of the city centre to check for any trouble. She considered dropping in on Chat as her superhero self to allay suspicion, but eventually decided a quick phone call would work better.

He picked up when she rang almost instantly, still wrapped in blankets, still in the living room, the tv blaring in the background.

“Hey Ladybug.” He said, sneezing, but face lit up in a smile nevertheless.

“Hey yourself. I got my friend’s message that you’re going to be out of commission for a few more days. How are you holding up?”

“Positively peachy for hearing your melodious voice, my lady. Are you sure you’re okay to cover doing patrol while I’m ill? I can make up for it once I’ve recovered, I promise, but I don’t want you to overexert yourself.”

She glared through the video camera. “You’re the one who should be more worried about getting enough rest, mister- I can hear how hoarse you sound from here. Tell me truthfully, how bad is it?”

He sighed, playful expression dropping. “I’ve got antibiotics for the chest infection, but it’s going to take a few days to clear up. I think bringing me here was the right choice, though- I don’t think I’d be looked after at home nearly as well as I am being looked after here.”

She gave a small, sad smile. She didn’t know much about Chat’s home life, but it didn’t sound like the sort of loving home the boy needed. Maybe the few days respite at her house would do him good.

“Well, you’d better sit tight and get better. I’ll call again tomorrow, but if you hear that there’s an akuma, don’t go after it, understood? I can handle it well enough, and you need to rest.”

He looked like he was about to protest, but she gave him a steely glare through the camera, and he nodded. “As you wish, my Lady.” He replied. “See you tomorrow then?”

“Yep, see you tomorrow!” She hung up, and started making her way back to the bathroom window to let herself back in.

 

***

 

It started raining as they sat down for dinner, the four crowded around the small table, eating a massive spread of rice and noodles and soup and stew of the quantities her mother only made when guests came over. By the time Chat had managed to politely refuse a third helping of food persistently offered by her parents, rain was pattering heavily at the window, the thunder in the distance making the superhero flinch occasionally. Her parents piled mountains more pillows onto the sofa before bidding the two teenagers goodnight, the early starts running the bakery required meaning they often left Marinette to her own devices later in the evenings. She left him watching the tv under a pile of blankets to retreat to her room after a few minutes, having a brief go at her homework before changing and crawling under her blankets. 

She estimated it had been only a few minutes after she turned out the light when she heard a sudden rumble of thunder followed by a pained yelp from downstairs. She clambered down from her bed, wincing at the rush of cold air, and made her way back down to the living room to find Chat wrestling with a pile of blankets on the floor in front of the sofa.

“Having trouble?” She said quietly, and the blanketed figure on the floor jerked at the sound, twisting to face her general direction.

“Sorry; did I wake you?” He whispered as he pulled the blanket off of his head, the somewhat ruffled Chat illuminated only by the light from the street outside streaming through the window.

“It doesn’t count if I wasn’t asleep yet, don’t worry.” She said, and helped him out of the blanket pile on the floor. “Are you alright? Do you need anything?”

He looked between her and the sofa once, twice, and then another rumble of thunder made him nearly jump out of his skin. He looked at her sheepishly. 

“I- erm… I… might be a bit scared of thunderstorms. I’m okay with them when I haven’t got my suit on, but something about them when I am in the suit makes me a bit…” He made an almost comically exaggerated gesture of being scared, eliciting a small giggle from her.

“Well, you should be okay to de-transform while you’re sleeping, right? You did last night…”

“Ye-es… but I think waking up at four in the morning to your parents discovering my secret identity isn’t ideal…”

She nodded, deep in thought, before alighting on a solution, turning to go fetch more cheese bread from the kitchenette. “You’ll just have to sleep in my room again, then. I can leave mum and dad a note to not come in, and put something on top of the trapdoor to stop them coming in. What do you think?”

He looked at her curiously. “Are you sure, princess? You’ll have to listen to my rattly chest all night long again. You don’t want to catch this, trust me.”

“I’m sure I’ll survive, and you need to keep your identity secret. Come on, help me carry up these blankets?”

Together they managed to move the pile up into her room onto the chaise lounge, and she quickly penned a note for her parents to place on the stairwell before she retreated back up and shoved the seat over the top of the trapdoor. Chat was lingering nervously around, waiting until the light from below the hatch was well and truly gone before the flash of green signalling his transformation appeared. She could make out his shadowy form in the dark of her room, but no identifying features, which was a relief. 

He made a sound of protest when she started chucking blankets up the ladder to her bed.

“What- what are you doing?!”

She turned back to look at him, hoping her glare would be understood despite the fact that neither of them could see each other very well in the dark. “Well, you’re ill. I’m not going to make you sleep on the lounge if you’re ill.”

She could just make out the shaking of his head. “I am not going to deprive you of your usual bed for the night, princess.”

Instead of replying, she resumed throwing up blankets until he made to stop her. “Chat, you’re ill. You need your sleep, and you’ll sleep much better in a bed. I’m going to sleep down here, and you can’t stop me.”

“Oh? Really?” She could almost hear the raised eyebrow, followed by a hoarse croak of surprise as she hoisted the boy over her shoulder, carrying him up the ladder to the bed. He was unceremoniously dumped on the bed with maybe a little more force than necessary, but still managed to grab her arm before she made it back onto the ladder and out of his reach.

“You and your parents have done enough for me already, princess. It’s the least I can do to let you sleep where you usually do-”

“You’re not going to sleep well on that lounge, Chat. Alya has given me a thorough description of every stray spring that digs into your back in the night.”

“Then you may as well let me take it.” He pulled her up from the ladder with some force, winding himself when she landed square on top of him before trying to move himself out and down the ladder.

“Oh no you don’t mister-!”

The ensuing wrestling match to try and keep the other in the bed while getting to the ladder ended in a stalemate a few minutes later, both of them still on the bed and her partner descending into a violent coughing fit beneath her. She ended up crawling to curl up behind him until he recovered.

“Or I guess we could just both sleep here…” He muttered once he had his breath back, and she nodded silently against his back, pulling a blanket over the both of them before pressing an ear to his back and throwing an arm over his middle, the sound of his heartbeat against her ear and occasional rattling breaths lulling her to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

She was standing on a rooftop, her partner at her side, the cool night wind in her hair making her feel alive as they watched the city together. She turned to watch him; he was speaking to her, but she couldn’t quite hear the words, his expression clearly animated as he talked but the words coming less and less frequently as he realised she couldn’t hear. He turned to go after a minute’s silence, expression sullen.

“Wait! Come back! Don’t go!” She said, reaching for him. He clearly hadn’t heard her shouts either, but turned into her touch when she caught his shoulder before he could jump away. They shared a longing look, and then she was in his arms, held close enough to hear the beating of his heart, his breath against her ear as he spoke to her again, and this time she could hear him, though as she listened and slowly awoke the words became somewhat confusing.

“What’s the link? What’s the link? I’ve seen her before but where… and does the princess know?” The sleepy words were cut off by a coughing fit, the chest under her vibrating, and she slowly opened her eyes.

The sunlight was streaming through the window again; she wasn’t quite sure how she had shifted through the night, but now her head was lying on the boy’s chest as he mumbled in his sleep, the occasional wheezing snore rattling through his lungs. She was looking across the room, thankfully, not towards her partner’s face, and gave her eyes a rub to remove the sleep from the corners before deliberately closing them once more before she moved off the bed.

...well, she would have moved off the bed if the arms around her had let her, cuddling her closer when she made to sit up.

“Nuh… not yet…”

She sighed, and tried again, but was stubbornly cuddled closer. 

“Chat, it’s morning.”

“Nooo… It’s not morning… Let me dream some more…” She made another attempt to escape, but it was futile. Strong arms moved her further up the bed so her head was now nestled in the crook of the boy’s neck, the rest of her half-splayed across his torso, his arms winding around her middle. She huffed against his neck.

“It is morning, and you have to let me get up, you stubborn kitten.”

“But it’s a really good dream, Ladybug…” the sleepy voice whined, and she froze.

“Erm… I’m not Ladybug, Chat, I’m Marinette.”

She could feel the moment he woke up, the sudden stiffness in the body beneath her, and she had to be careful to keep her eyes closed as his sudden movement to sit up almost threw her off the bed, his hands catching her shoulders before she went too far.

“Marinette! I’m so sorry! Are you okay?”

She nodded, and one of his hands drifted up to stroke her cheek apologetically before his hands left her. “Hold on one sec, I’ll make myself presentable.”

She heard some rustling for a few seconds, then his voice. “All clear now, princess.”

Her eyes opened slowly, and she shook her head in amusement at what she saw.

“Still rocking the blanket look this season, I see.”

He gave a snort of laughter. “It’s trendy this winter season, especially among the up-and-coming vigilante community. You should design some blanket outfits, Marinette, I’m sure they’d go down a treat on the catwalk. At least, assuming the models didn’t fall over every two seconds. Can you help me get down the ladder?”

She nodded, then remembered he probably couldn’t see that and croaked out an okay before grasping his hands carefully and leading him down the ladder, checking backwards regularly to make sure she didn’t tumble down. She made it down without incident, but just as she finished setting both feet down on the floor his foot caught a rung just the wrong way. There was a yelp, and suddenly they ended up on the floor, the blanketed figure sprawled over her, who rolled off quickly.

“Are you okay, Princess? I didn’t wind you or anything?”

“No, I’m good. Don’t worry, I’m stronger than I look.” She replied, looking around the room to see if she could spot Plagg, or Tikki for that matter. Neither seemed to be in Tikki’s obvious hiding spots.

“You do seem to have hidden strengths. How on earth did you get me up that ladder last night? What on earth are they feeding you?”

Her eyes widened. “Erm… macarons. And I do help my dad carry in the bags of flour sometimes, those weigh a ton. And I’ve had a lot of practice trying to arm-wrestle dad too- I can sometimes beat him, but not very often.”

He winced. “Sometimes? He challenged me yesterday, and I think I nearly broke my wrist!”

She giggled, and patted the blanket roughly where his shoulder was. “Maybe you’ll have to try again when you’re feeling a bit better, Chat- you’re clearly not at your full strength at the moment!”

He sighed, and then made to look around the room.

“Have you seen any sign of Plagg?” He muttered, pacing around as she made to move the lounge from over the trapdoor.

“Not today, no… I think I forgot to bring up any cheese bread last night, didn’t I?” She said. “He can’t have gotten too far, could he? The door was closed…”

He muttered something under his breath, then joined her and yanked open the trapdoor to the rest of the house. “He’s probably gone looking for some more cheese downstairs. He can get through closed doors just fine, but he knows not to go too far. Hopefully he won’t have gone too far…”

They traipsed down the stairs, hand in hand to keep him from tripping, finding the living room empty. At Chat’s indication she went to look in the fridge, but there was no sign of the kwami there.

“Is the bakery going to be open yet? I can’t risk Plagg being seen…”

She looked across at the clock. “It’s about half ten now; we don’t open until eleven on saturdays. We’re good, but mum and dad are probably there getting things ready for the day.”

He nodded, and she took his hand again to lead him down the other set of stairs down to the ground floor, leading him into the bakery. Her dad was standing at the counter, organising the cash register, and looked up with a curious expression at their entrance and at her blanket-covered companion.

“Dad- quick question. Have you seen a small black creature? 3-4 inches tall, likes cheese, answers to Plagg?”

He looked puzzled, but his answer was interrupted by a screech from the pantry. She quickly yanked Chat behind her in the direction of her mother’s scream, the boy protesting at her pace as they went.

The scene that greeted her at the door to the pantry was not of the well-ordered storeroom she knew. Her mother was swatting at the kwami, her broom passing through the tiny form each time. The corner dedicated to cheese was decimated, for want of a better word; several rounds of cheese had gaping holes through them, others reduced to crumbs on the shelves. Her mother’s panicked attack had sent some of the bags of flour falling to the floor, creating a snow-like covering on half the tiles.

Marinette quickly darted forward to stop her mother, easing the broom gently from her hands as she talked her down from the panicked look in her eyes.

“Mum! Mum! It’s okay, it’s just Plagg, it’s just Chat’s friend, it’s okay, it’s not a mouse, you can stop attacking it, it’s okay.”

“You know, I resent that comparison.” Plagg said irritably, but looked somewhat relieved at the lowered broom. “And couldn’t you kids have waited for me to get back up there? Nice blanket, by the way.”

Chat huffed. “Just get in the ring, Plagg. What chaos have you caused this time?”

“Nothing you won’t be able to compensate these lovely people for, don’t worry. Thanks for the cheese, by the way!” He said cheekily, before a rush of green light drew him under the blanketed figure, blue jeans and orange sneakers replaced with black suit and boots. He removed the blanket, cat eyes blinking, annoyance growing as he looked around at the ruined rounds of cheese and beyond.

“Trust Plagg to not tell me what he did until  _ after _ I could berate him…” He muttered, then turned to Sabine. “I’m so sorry about this, Sabine. Let me reassure you, I can replace anything he destroyed, I’ve got plenty of money I could give you to make up for the loss in business…”

Sabine laughed, and shook her head. “I’m sure we’ll survive well enough; we’ve got another shipment of cheeses coming in tomorrow, and we’ve made up most of the cheese breads we needed to for today. How are you this morning? Feeling any better? Did you have a nice night on Marinette’s lounge? I presume that’s where you went.”

“-Yeah! Yeah! Slept really well… on the lounge…” he replied quickly. “I just needed to be somewhere out the way so I could sleep untransformed, and Marinette said I could.”

“”That’s fine, just ask us if you want to sleep up there again next time. We were a little concerned until we saw Mari’s note on the stairs...but nevermind that. How are you feeling today, young man?” Sabine asked as she herded them out of the bakery and back up the stairs.

“Not as bad as I was yesterday… My chest feels a little clearer.”

She nodded, making a noise of approval. “That's good, the antibiotics must be working, then. I still think you should spend the next few day resting, though. Are you okay to stay a while longer?”

He nodded. “I’ll need to make some calls again, but I’d like to stay, if that’s alright with you…”

Sabine stopped him, pulling him into a hug as they reached the top of the stairs, Chat stiffening in surprise before relaxing into the hug. “You can stay as long as you want to, young man, alright? You and Ladybug do such a good job of protecting the city; you will have our help as long as you need it. Okay?”

He nodded against her shoulder, and the three of them continued on into the living room.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading! I'm not sure if this is going to just be a one-shot or expand into something more, so if you want more feel free to come over to my tumblr and give me some ideas :-P Find me on tumblr at hedwighood. All comments and kudos appreciated :-)


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